21 Video Game Facts That Will Make You Sound Like an Expert
Want to sound like a pro gamer? Read these 21 awesome facts to become an instant expert on PlayStation, Nintendo, Xbox, and more.
1. Life Imitates Art
The coronavirus pandemic reminds some of the 2005 Corrupted Blood outbreak in “World of Warcraft.” Researchers used it to model gamers’ reactions to a deadly virus, and many of the predictions of human behavior were eerily accurate.
2. Ears Were Traded for Spikes
Sonic the Hedgehog was first drawn as a rabbit. The long ears were less than aerodynamic, so creator Yuji Naka opted for an animal that could roll into a ball.
3. Startup Screen Has Meaning
If you thought the PlayStation 2 startup screen seemed different each time, it was not your imagination. The blocks represented saved information, and the towers grew taller the more you played.
4. Mortal Kombat Had a Clean Version
“Mortal Kombat” was first seen in arcades in 1992. On Mortal Monday a year later, it came to the Nintendo Super NES and Game Boy, albeit without the blood.
5. Speed Was an Accident
The progressively increasing speed of attackers in “Space Invaders” started as an accident. The program was able to run faster with fewer aliens on the screen, and designer Tomohiro Nishikado integrated the quirk into the game.
6. Eddie Valiant Beat Out Forrest Gump
When the cult classic “Super Mario Bros.” movie was filmed, Tom Hanks auditioned for the part of Mario. Nintendo had never heard of the young actor, so instead chose Englishman Bob Hoskins for the role.
7. Nintendo Did It First
Controllers have come a long way since the joystick. Nintendo was the first to add a directional pad, right- and left-shoulder buttons, thumbsticks, and Wii technology.
8. Gaming Is Good for You
Video games are fun, but some are designed to teach coding. CodinGame requires players to use Java and C++ coding languages, Code Monkey teaches Coffee Script, and Flexbox Froggy teaches CSS Flexbox.
9. Tetris Might Change Your Life
There are only about 100,000 copies of the 1988 Tengen version of “Tetris”, currently selling for upwards of $70 each. The 10 remaining copies of the Sega version are valued between $16,000 and $25,000.
10. Video Games Are Nutritious
The first cereal named after a game was “Donkey Kong”. Since then, other games including “Donkey Kong Jr.”, “Pokémon”, “Pac-Man”, “Legend of Zelda” and “Super Mario Bros.” all found their way onto the breakfast table.
11. Friends Almost Weren’t Invited
Without permission, the Nintendo 64 developers of “Goldeneye 007” added in a multiplayer feature at the last minute. This was one of the first games to incorporate multiplayers into a first-person shooter scenario.
12. Gamers Make Good Doctors
Researchers compared the hand-eye coordination of doctors who played video games to that of their non-gaming peers. Gamers made 37 percent fewer mistakes during surgery and completed procedures 27 percent faster.
13. Sega Saturn Was Memorable
The first game system to boast internal memory was the Sega Saturn. Compared to an Xbox’s 512 MB, the Sega’s 32 KB RAM was rather puny, but it could hold five or six games.
14. Their Friendship Was Solid
You can thank the son of “Metal Gear Solid’s” director Hideo Kojima for Solid Snake being included in “Super Smash Bros.” The creator of “Super Smash Bros.” included the character as a personal favor to Kojima.
15. This Game Has Raised You-Know-What Since 1997
People have been playing “Diablo” online since 1997. It is now available in other formats, but is considered the first continuously-running online game.
16. Madden Has Video Game Play Action
“Madden NFL” is available on more game systems than the actual NFL is broadcast to television networks. Thirty-three video game platforms and consoles can have offered this game.
17. Sony Played Solo
The original PlayStation began as a collaboration between Sony and Nintendo. Nintendo backed out, Sony continued the project, and the rest is history.
18. All They Want to Do Is Dance
The most popular exergame was 1998’s “Dance Dance Revolution”. This genre began 10 years previously, with the release of Nintendo’s Power Pad and “World Class Track Meet”.
19. The Dialog Was Evil
“Resident Evil 1” is well known for its awkward conversations between characters. Phrases like “master of unlocking” have earned it the title of worst video game dialog in the “Guinness World Records: Gamer’s Edition 2020.”
20. Facial Hair Had a Purpose
Hair was almost impossible to animate with the technology available in the early 1980s, so designer Shigeru Miyamoto opted to give Mario a hat. Likewise, while struggling to make Mario’s nose visible he drew a mustache.
21. Girls Just Want to Game
The first video game with a playable female character was “Ms. Pacman” in 1981. The first playable female humans were in the 1985 game “Typhoon Gali” and 1986’s “Metroid.”